SI Article on Volleyball Twins

[cardfan15]

Here's another article on the tallest female twins in the world, American's Claire and Ann Recht. I can't believe the writer actually wrote :

"And while blocking serves and spiking balls may be easy for the pair..."

Has Erin Keaveney (the writer) never been to a volleyball match? Sad.

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/sioncampus/05/14/recht.twins/?cnn=yes

[vbuzz]

So they are the tallest female twins in the world. Who is the tallest former or current female volleyball player in the NCAA?

The only 2 players I can think are Tayyiba Haneef and Sarah McFarland. But I think they're also about the same height as the Recht twins.

[huskervbfan]

Several years ago there was talk on this board about a high school VB player in Florida that was either 6-9 or 6-10. I recall that she wasn't really very athletic and never heard if she actually played anywhere in college but I'm sure it wasn't any DI school if she did.

[BoilerUp!]

I was reading something on prepVolleyball yesterday, and thought it would be fun to have an article about twins who play volleyball. I wonder if there are a lot. It seems like a sport that sisters tend to play. Once you play, you are hooked!

[BearClause]

Some mention of them seems to come up every month or two.

I met their parents. The twins are taller than their folks, but their older brother is the tallest in their family.

[Mix Breed-TEXAS,HI,LBSU]

Emily Toone is also 6'7....plays for Utah.

[Ye Olde Dawg]

Of course the Recht twins are listed on American's roster as 6'8". And good old RichKern.com, in a chart of players by height, shows only two active players that are 6'8". That makes the Rechts the tallest current players.

The USAV roster lists Haneef as 6'7". And the Sarah McFarland who played for Loyola Marymount around '98-2000 was 6'6". So far at least, it doesn't sound like there's anyone playing volleyball that's taller than these twins.

[Mix Breed-TEXAS,HI,LBSU]

sankyu said:

Of course the Recht twins are listed on American's roster as 6'8". And good old RichKern.com, in a chart of players by height, shows only two active players that are 6'8".

The USAV roster lists Haneef as 6'7". So far at least, it doesn't sound like there's anyone playing volleyball that's taller than these twins.

Yes there is..... That Russian girl that plays MB is 6'8 or 6'9......She plays for the Russian National Team.

[Ye Olde Dawg]

fakabedit said:

sankyu said:

Of course the Recht twins are listed on American's roster as 6'8". And good old RichKern.com, in a chart of players by height, shows only two active players that are 6'8".

The USAV roster lists Haneef as 6'7". So far at least, it doesn't sound like there's anyone playing volleyball that's taller than these twins.

Yes there is..... That Russian girl that plays MB is 6'8 or 6'9......She plays for the Russian National Team.

My bad. I didn't want to go to all the trouble of saying "current or former NCAA players," but that's who I was looking up.

[VolleyTX]

Yes there is..... That Russian girl that plays MB is 6'8 or 6'9......She plays for the Russian National Team.

The Russians have at least two. Gamova (outside hitter) is 6'8" or 6'9". They also have a middle about the same height who is finally seeing some playing time. They may have more giants, but those are the two I am familiar with.

[itsallaboutme]

I watched "the twins" warm-up at their match in Lincoln. Ok, one of them did play for a few points but they are not athletic. They have no verticles hops. You couldn't fit a piece a paper under their feet when they jumped.

[Murina]

volleytx said:

The Russians have at least two. Gamova (outside hitter) is 6'8" or 6'9". They also have a middle about the same height who is finally seeing some playing time. They may have more giants, but those are the two I am familiar with.

The other name you are looking for is Merkulova. She's the middle. You are correct about there being more 2m+ players in Russia. There are at least 3 more that I'm aware of.

[ESTRELLA]

itsallaboutme said:

I watched "the twins" warm-up at their match in Lincoln. Ok, one of them did play for a few points but they are not athletic. They have no verticles hops. You couldn't fit a piece a paper under their feet when they jumped.

Isn't that true for several tall players? Maybe a credit card will be better.

ESTRELLA

[IdahoBoy]

Why are we so facinated with height that it takes something like this to get volleyball into SI?

[leadbrain]

idahoboy said:

Why are we so facinated with height that it takes something like this to get volleyball into SI?

I don't think it's so much the height as it is the whole Guinness Book of World Records. Now making that is one heck of a story.